The Skull and the Dagger: Redefining Warfare
by Brooding Pariah
Summary: Roach is a veteran in combat. He has always been part of the first boots on the ground. The TF 141 is a different matter entirely.  He has had his average share of horrors, but what type of battles will he fight while part of the Task Force?


_Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson_

_B Company, S.A.S_

_Near Lawarai Pass,_

_FATA*, Pakistan_

_0200 hours_

"Bleater 1-1 to Command post, approaching Skull sector"

The radio crackled and Command post replied:"Roger that Bleater. Do you have visual on target? Over".

"That's a negative; had to take a longer route to avoid detection. Distance to target is twelve mikes." replied Bleater.

"Roger that, keep us posted. Out."

The radio went quiet and there was silence in the dark interior of the Pave-Low once again. The S.A.S operators inside the chopper stretched and checked their equipment, preparing themselves for the mission ahead. The silence was broken only by the occasional voice of the pilot announcing the ETA. On one of the benches in the chopper sat Roach. A four year S.A.S "veteran", Roach was one of the five S.A.S commandos led by Captain Stuart.

The squad had received intel of an enemy safe house near the Pak-Afghan border. Drone imagery had a positive ID; all the men inside the compound were undercover terrorists planning operations against the Coalition forces in Afghanistan. The squad of S.A.S operatives had been tasked to infiltrate this compound and eliminate all the hostiles. The rules of engagement were simple: _Terminate with extreme prejudice._

The P.A.F** had volunteered close air support and the pilots were on standby at a nearby airbase; ready to rush in if anything went wrong.

As the chopper reached a grassy field -their LZ- , the commandos stood up and set up the ropes. Roach stood up, adrenaline flooding through his body. He checked his gear one last time; took a last look at his M4A1 and his Sig P226 pistol to see if they were clipped on alongside the rest of his gear.

Finding no faults with the equipment, he proceeded to fast rope down on the ground and landed, along with his team, on a road a couple of blocks away from their intended target. The whole village was a ghost town, its occupants had been driven off either by the floods that had recently struck the Northern areas, or had to vacate the area because of the terrorists.

"Command post this is Bleater 8-1, we have landed onto the ground and are proceeding towards target on foot, over." Captain Stuart said into his radio.

"Roger that, proceed with caution. Out." replied Command post.

Roach moved up the roads that led to the safe house along with his squad. He switched to his night vision device for a better view. He switched his rifle to semi auto and moved along with his men. Staring around nervously, a nagging suspicion was gnawing at him; _Are these streets really that empty? Or, is it a setup?_

The squad leader suddenly stopped went into a crouch. He signaled the others to keep moving behind him. He beckoned to Boomer, the sniping expert, who immediately climbed up an old shack and positioned his M107 Anti-Material rifle. Roach became more nervous and gripped his rifle more firmly.

Finally, the group reached the compound. Roach set up claymore mines near the main gate and gave the thumbs up to Captain Stuart who nodded and motioned to Grumbler and Ace to follow him and crouch near the main gate. At the signal from Stuart, Roach shot the claymores which exploded with a huge bang and lifted the door off its hinges. Roach went inside the compound and shot the shell-shocked hostiles inside. At a signal from the captain, he found the main power switch and shot it, causing the few remaining lights inside to die out. As the group advanced forward, more hostiles armed with LMGs and RPGs came out of the compound and shot blindly around the compound, causing explosions to erupt near the squad. Boomer and Ace went down, torn to shreds by shrapnel. Captain Stuart lay wounded behind a destroyed jeep and Roach was pinned down by enemy fire.

Peering from behind cover, Roach aimed down his ACOG scope and shot at a hostile who was firing away with a Browning M2HB. He repeated this process and two more tangos went down. The hostiles were thinning out.

"Call in close air and fucking blow them to kingdom come!" Captain Stuart screamed.

"We can't, it's too risky, we will be blown away too!" replied Roach, perspiration running down his forehead as he shot down more of the targets. All too soon, a bullet struck Stuart and he fell limp. The worse, however was yet to come as the team sniper was shot

"Uurgh, I am hit Roach!" yelled Boomer. Roach's breath stopped, he was alone. Gathering his wits, he ran away from the compound, firing shots behind his shoulder. He radioed Command Post for help and ran faster. As he reached a fountain his legs gave in. He crawled behind an old dumpster and watched the pursuing militia rush past. Roach breathed a sigh of relief, his perspiration mixing with the dirt on his clothes. He checked his radio; it was still working.

With a grunt of effort, he sat up and radioed for an airstrike at the compound. Giving the coordinates to the pilot, he watched as the compound was blasted off. The sky was lit up with the fire that was burning near the rubble.

He stood up and ran towards the LZ. Reaching there, he got into the chopper waiting for him and it lifted off.

"What happened to the others?", the pilot yelled.

Roach, turned his face away before answering," They're gone"

**A/N:**_ Dictionary_

**FATA*: stands for Federally Administered Tribal Areas**

**P.A.F**: stands for Pakistan Air Force**


End file.
